Maunderings and ramblings of a library assistant, mostly-unpublished writer, occasional anachronist, finder of lost books and roving researcher.

Monday, July 9, 2012

going walkies, eventually bikies

If I can get my EEE working again, I'll post photos of the event I was at this weekend, Stranded Mermaid in Powell River. I was able to go with my friend Elisa in her still-shiny-new van, and took my crutches as backup for walking on uneven ground (though the site is really well landscaped).

But for now, the big news is that I had my first physiotherapy session, at Shelbourne Physical Therapy, where Ian moved my knee around and gave his opinion that there was no ligament damage. He also measured the amount of bend and straight in my right knee (100 and -8 I think), and of course took me through a series of exercises that I'll have to do three times a day.
Then I rode a stationary bike for probably 10 minutes. The seat was up pretty high, making it possible for me to keep my feet in the stirrups for a complete cycle. I have the go-ahead to go back to weight training at the campus gym as well as riding the stationary bikes there. So I'll just have to psych myself up for the walk over to the gym from the library.
The business with my foot swelling up he says is an after-effect from the immobilizer, because my calf could not do its job of pumping fluid back and forth with the thigh muscles, and has to get that action established again. He went over the signs of deep-vein thrombosis and my leg isn't bright red, hot, or painful, so I'm less worried about the puffiness, though it's still annoying.

This morning I had a shower with due care (like not standing on one foot at any point). It was lovely to rinse my hair out properly. I have been upstairs and downstairs several times today without any nasty flashes, though still going downstairs one step at a time because it really pulls my knee if I try two steps. (By this I mean toddler-style one-step, one foot down then the other foot to the same step)